What Must We Sacrifice
by TheHttydRaven
Summary: Virgil is a sorcerer, living in a land where magic was banned by King Thomas after his husband was killed by a corrupt sorcerer. After being caught using his powers to heal his ailing friend, Virgil is condemned to death by King Thomas. But after being rescued by a surprising person, he and his friends set out to help save their kingdom, and prove that sorcery can be used for good.


**Virgil is a sorcerer, living in a land where magic was banned by King Thomas after his husband was killed by a corrupt sorcerer.**

**After being caught using his powers to heal his ailing friend, Virgil is condemned to death by King Thomas.**

**But after being rescued by a surprising person, he and his friends set out to help save their kingdom, and prove that sorcery can be used for good.**

**But it might not be as easy as it seems... danger lurks around every corner and not everyone is who they seem.**

**Thomas isn't evil in this fic (at least in my opinion), he's fueled by grief and he wishes to prevent the fate that happened to his husband occurring to Roman. He's just trying to be a good father.**

《◇》

"Here it is!" Logan burst through the door, panting heavily as his trembling arms held out the book that he had been holding close to his chest. "Sorry it took so long, the librarian almost caught me so I had to pretend to be resorting the books for a few minutes until she went away."

Virgil smiled slightly as he took the thick tome from the royal scribe, who was currently leaning against the doorway as he caught his breath, his chest heaving.

"Thanks, Logan. I'll never be able to thank you enough for managing to smuggle all these magical texts from the royal library." Virgil patted his friend on the shoulder, before quickly opening the book and flipping through it, finding the spell he needed without much searching and quickly reading it as he made his way across the cluttered room, heading towards the cot that was crammed in the corner of the small house. "I think I should be able to lift her fever, but then we just have to hope for the best..."

As Virgil crouched over the young woman - his friend Lina, who had fallen ill and was now comatose - who was laid out on the cot, he nervously glanced around, knowing that what he was about to do was very illegal. As Logan gently dipped a washcloth in the water bucket beside the cot before wringing it out and placing it on the feverish woman's forehead, Virgil closed his eyes and hovered his hands over the woman's head, quietly murmuring an incantation. Virgil opened his eyes as power surged through him, knowing that his eyes were glowing a bright purple as he used his magic to cast a healing spell over the still woman on the cot before him.

Virgil had almost finished expelling the sickness from the woman when the door behind him was audibly slammed open, the quiet of the room filling with shouts and the loud clanking of armor. Virgil whirled, the magic fading from his eyes as he took in the knights that were restraining Logan and currently approaching him, chains held in their grasp.

"Sorcerer!" A knight stepped forward, taking advantage of Virgil's shock to grab him by the shoulder, snapping a heavy iron collar around his neck before shoving him towards the knights that held the chains, who quickly bound him in the restraints, attaching a long chain to a loop on the collar, pulling it as they started to move.

Abruptly pulled from his shocked daze, Virgil dug in his feet and narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth and yelling a spell meant to knock the knights into unconsciousness.

Which... didn't work?

Virgil's eyes widened in shock as the lead knight let out a booming laugh, sneering at the young servant boy. "Boy, that's a magic-blocking collar. You're powerless now." The knight waved his hands and the gathered group began to leave the house, dragging the helpless Virgil behind them. "Take this sorcerer scum to the king!"

As Virgil was dragged through the dirt, unable to find his footing, he could only stare back at Logan. Logan was being held back by a knight as the lanky scribe stared back at Virgil in shock. Virgil knew what it meant now that he had been discovered and taken by the knights. _He was going to die._

《◇》

Virgil stood before the king, head held high. He tried his best to portray pride and strength as he stood before the royal, but he couldn't prevent the shakiness of his knees as the king stood, steely eyes directed at Virgil.

"Virgil Stourm, You have been found using sorcery. You know the punishment for your crime." King Thomas narrowed his eyes, hand tightening its grip upon the hilt of his sword in its scabbard. "You will burn at first light tomorrow."

Virgil held back a gasp as his eyes widened. He knew what was the punishment for using magic, but hearing it put into words was shocking, to say the least.

King Thomas settled back into his throne, light from the large windows reflecting off his crown as he tilted his head, waving his hand dismissively. "Guards, take this scum out of my sight. Throw him in the dungeons until the pyre is prepared."

Virgil struggled, but with the collar wrapped around his neck and chains encircling him, he could do little to prevent the guards from dragging him backward and out of the throne room.

《◇》

"So it seems we're going out together."

Virgil's head snapped up as a familiar voice disrupted the quiet of the cell he was in, the door being thrown open as a figure was shoved through it, the door being slammed shut behind him.

"_Logan?_" Virgil squinted at the person who had been tossed into the with him, recognizing his friend. "Wha-" Virgil reached out a hand, helping his friend to his feet before moving aside to allow him to sit beside him on the small stone bench against the wall of their cell. "What are you doing here?"

Logan shrugged his shoulders. "King Thomas was informed that it was me who provided you with magical texts. Conspiring with a sorcerer is no small infraction." Logan grinned darkly. "My parents would be so disappointed."

"Logan! I-" Virgil curled his hand into a fist as he hunched over, resting his head in his free hand. "I am *_so_* sorry. You shouldn't be punished for what I am."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Logan leaned back against the cold stone wall, head tilted back as he stared up at the rough ceiling. "You're my friend. My only one, if I'm being honest. I wouldn't wish for you to be alone when you burn."

Virgil remained silent, but he knew that Logan understood that he was grateful for his loyalty.

《◇》

Roman stood silently behind his father as a herald announced the arrival of the sorcerer.

Roman had never seen a sorcerer in his sixteen years of life, as once magic was banned sorcerers were quick to make themselves scarce, so Roman was curious. Would he look evil? Possibly have a cape or a crown with horns or spikes like the villains in Roman's storybooks?

Or... servant clothes?

Roman tilted his head as the apparent sorcerer was led into the throne room by a pair of knights, his neck encircled by a collar with runes carved into it and his thin body tightly bound with thick and heavy looking chains.

Roman knew magic was evil, after all, it was used to kill his fathers' husband- Roman's dad- but this person didn't look harmless in the slightest.

Dressed in a simple outfit of grey pants and a faded brown coat, the young man looked to be around Roman's age, and he appeared absolutely _miserable._ And not evil in the slightest, more like a pathetic puppy that was being punished for urinating on the rug.

Before Roman could dwell on the sorcerer much longer, he saw his father stand from his seat upon the throne, preparing to address the sorcerer before him.

"Virgil Thourne. You have been found using sorcery. You know the punishment for your crime." From his position behind his father, Roman could see him bristle, his knuckles whitening as he tightening his grip upon the hilt of his sword in its scabbard, almost as if he was resisting the urge to pull the sword from its scabbard and separate Virgil's head from his shoulder where he stood. "You will burn at first light tomorrow."

Roman felt something cold, almost like dread gather in his stomach as he saw Virgil hold back a gasp, the servant boys' eyes widening as Roman's father voiced the punishment for the crime he had committed.

Roman's father settled back into his throne, light from the large windows reflecting off his crown as he tilted his head, waving his hand dismissively as he turned his head away from the chained man before him. "Guards, take this scum out of my sight. Throw him in the dungeons until the pyre is prepared." Roman grimaced at the mention of the pyre, not wishing to think about what was inevitably going to happen to the sorcerer.

Roman watched as Virgil struggled to keep the knights from dragging him away, but with the heavy magic-blocking collar wrapped around his neck and the multitudes of heavy and cumbersome chains encircling him, the powerless sorcerer could do little to prevent the knights from dragging him backward and out of the throne room, the heavy doors slamming shut behind them.

"Father?" Roman leaned forward to be in his fathers' eyesight as the man rested his arms on the side of his throne. "May I be excused?"

Thomas gave his son a quick glance, before nodding, waving his hand in the direction of the doors.

"Go on. But remember we are having dinner with the visiting lords. Don't be late please." Thomas smiled, a rare thing these days, as his energetic son nodded enthusiastically before bounding down the red carpet that lay in the middle of the room and out the door, barely dodging a serving-girl carrying a tray covered with food on his way out.

King Thomas sighed good-naturedly, before straightening up as his knights brought in the next criminal for him to decide the fate of.

"Peter White, you have been accused of theft. Your punishment shall be..."

《◇》

Virgil had let Logan take the bench for a bed, the lanky man sprawled out across the stone bench as his chest rose and fell as he snored softly. Virgil had taken the floor but knew he wouldn't sleep. Not when the looming fear that he would be dead in a matter of a few hours haunted his thoughts.

Virgil's head snapped up as the sound of footsteps echoed through the stone hallways, a form stepping in front of the cell door, silhouetted by the torchlight behind them.

Virgil tensed as the person used a ring of keys to open the door, stepping into the cell and towards Virgil.

Virgil squinted as his eyes focused on the person. Virgil drew back in shock as he recognized the man outside his cell before he narrowed his eyes in contempt and disgust.

"Prince _Roman._" Virgil rose, mockingly bowing towards the teenager who stood across from him. "How may my friend," Virgil motioned to Logan's sleeping form. "and I help you?"

The prince remained silent, shifting on his feet as he stared at Virgil.

"What? Did your father send you to do his job? Are you going to be the one that throws the torch that sets me alight?" Virgil shoved down his fears and anxieties, deciding to cover it with pride and rudeness. "What shall it be, _my prince?"_

Roman stood silently, before scoffing and quickly drawing his sword, the sharpened steel shining in the torchlight as he held it over his head.

"Woah, Woah!" Virgil held up his hands, eyes widening. "Don't-" Virgil flinched as Roman swung the sword down, the weapon on a clear trajectory towards the chained sorcerer's body.

_Roman was going to kill Virgil._

《◇》

**Wowie what a fun time.**


End file.
